Representative of the best new face of eco-tourism, Jessica Oreck’s (Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo) exquisite documentary examines the skilled humble lives and rugged routines of one enterprising Finnish family, celebrating the uncommon relationship they’ve forged with nature. “A work of ethereal beauty… utterly engrossing…”—Variety
Long a German resident, filmmaker Dario Aguirre gets called home to Ecuador to help save his father’s grill from bankruptcy. As the vegetarian son and meat-loving father circle each other warily amidst talk of spreadsheets and the advantages of wholesale, a humorous and deeply touching family odyssey emerges.
Unfortunately for Antarctica’s Ross Sea, there’s “white gold” swimming in its depths. Lured by schools of incredibly valuable toothfish, fishermen have set course for these pristine waters. Peter Young’s urgent, absorbing documentary makes an impassioned plea for retreat before a virtually untouched ecosystem is ruined.
Director Amy Miller (Carbon Rush, VIFF 2012) exposes the devastating human cost of agricultural land grabbing—the contentious issue of large-scale agricultural land acquisitions by domestic and transnational companies, governments and individuals.
Luc Jacquet (March of the Penguins) and pioneering botanist and ecologist Francis Hallé fly us to the very top of the Amazon rainforest canopy and chronicle seven centuries in the life of this “green lung” of the world. A glorious celebration of trees and a call to arms for the protection of this wondrous tropical ecosystem.
A sobering look at how encroaching modernity is threatening the livelihoods and traditions of three families in different parts of Cambodia, Kalyanee Mam’s vérité documentary “handles its material so deftly that you can’t help but become an active participant in the journey.”—The AU Review. Winner, World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary, Sundance 2013.
Riding shotgun with biologist Alexandra Morton, documentarian Twyla Roscovich details the dangerous viruses that are flourishing in BC’s wild salmon and our government’s efforts to suppress evidence of this epidemic. An alarming document of our elected officials working against our best interests, this exposé is a must-see for every British Columbian.
